


starry eyes

by Lee_Mix, RyeFo



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gem Fusion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-28
Updated: 2018-10-28
Packaged: 2019-08-08 16:56:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16433297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lee_Mix/pseuds/Lee_Mix, https://archiveofourown.org/users/RyeFo/pseuds/RyeFo
Summary: Stuck on the Gem Homeworld and seperated from the other Crystal Gems, Stevonnie is relieved when Lars breaks them out of Pink Diamond's former quarters. However, whilst under siege, Lars suddenly finds himself growing closer to what the true meaning of fusion is.





	starry eyes

**Author's Note:**

> completed commission for @http://strivia.tumblr.com/ to which they also own starsonnie (the fusion of steven, connie, and lars). it was super fun to write such an interesting fusion according to their concepts!

“Garnet? Pearl? Amethyst? Can you hear me on this thing?”

Stevonnie tapped on their communicator frantically. “… _Anyone_? _”_

When there was no response, Stevonnie took to muttering under their breath to try and calm themself, running scenarios through their head as they pressed _somewhat_ familiar buttons and—and ended up wincing when the screen glitched and fried the main board.

“Great, great, this is great—my Mom who is Pink Diamond used to get trapped all the time in some room I now find out was hurt by the overseer of Homeworld, who _really_ needs to get a hobby besides destroying Gems with free will to mindless acolytes—”

The cave shook as Stevonnie pulled themself underneath the circuit board, fiddling with some wires, “—and now the omnipotent overlord of Homeworld who Steven may as well call his _Grandma_ is trying to pull his gem out of our body to try and get the true mind of Pink Diamond back to “correct” her and I don’t— _dammit!_ ”

Electricity had pulsed through, making Stevonnie’s hair a wreck.

“And I don’t have a hairbrush and I can’t reach the other’s and I’d never been trained me to rewire _Gem circuitry._ Could have taught me _that_ one, Pearl!”

Stevonnie paused for a moment, before they hauled themself out from beneath the circuit board and looked over the communicator.

_*Thinking what I’m thinking, Connie?_

_‘ **Absolutely**.’_

“But there is one piece of advice I do remember. Pearl always said, if in doubt of technology failing on you, and the logical approaches fail to make an impact…”

Stevonnie’s Gem lit up, and pulled out their pink, rose-encrusted shield. “ _Make sure there is no mess and hit it as hard as you can!”_

With an almighty _THUD!,_ the shield slammed down _hard_ onto the main keyboard— and all of a sudden the screen glitched and went bottle-green, white text in runes Steven couldn’t quite understand, then it went black, and then…

Silence.

“Dammit!”

_“Hello? Is, uh, someone there?”_

Stevonnie flinched at the sudden voice, before their expression lit up at the familiar sound. “Lars!”

_“Who—wait, uh, Steven? Connie? Ste…vonnie? That’s what you guys call yourself, right?”_

“Yeah!” Stevonnie wiped a tear from their black eyes. “Oh, Lars, you have got no idea how good it is to hear you! Or anyone friendly that doesn’t want to kill me!”

 _“Yeah, yeah, same._ ” His voice sounded brash, “ _where are you? We dropped ship after the distress call and came right back from Earth, but that Pearl lady said there’s been no sign of you! I—sorta got separated from the others trying to get some of the ships away, ended up at this place.”_

“We know, Lars. Listen, we can’t get through to the others on the communicator—we’re trapped in some sort of communication-centre. It’s in a pod in Pink Diamond’s tower. Can you unlock the door from the outside for us?”

_“Pink Diamond’s Tower? Uh, let’s see. Tower, tower, tower, where could you be… oh. Wait. It’s probably the huge pink building I’m standing right next to.”_

“This _is_ a short-range communicator, Lars.”

He scoffed, _“don’t get smart with me. You might have two heads, but you’re still both kids. This alien-magic stuff is still new to me.”_ Despite his tone, Stevonnie could hear frantic tapping despite the static. _“Okay, uh, did that do anything?”_

Stevonnie looked at the door, shoulders going tense. “No, it’s still jammed shut. Lars—there’s got to be something else. A—A trip wire? Maybe a guard’s post you could sneak into?”

_“Hm… no, it looks pretty much concealed, and I can’t scale those walls.”_

Stevonnie slumped against the wall. “Great. Thanks anyway, Lars. Guess we’ll just have to chisel our way out whilst everyone…” Tears pricked at their eyes, and they swallowed hard. “Whilst everyone else is fighting for us.

 _“…Well, there—there is one thing I could try._ ”

Stevonnie perked up. “Yeah? You think? Go for it.”

There was a sudden explosion _rocking_ the floor, Stevonnie diving underneath the board for cover as parts of the ceiling caved in and crashed onto the floor below.

Once the tremors had stopped, Stevonnie lifted their arms from their head, and cracked open one eye.

There, standing by the door, Lars stood with a sheepish grin on his face holding up… what looked to be a gun of some sort. He held it up. “Rhodinite made this. She’s actually pretty handy with gadgets. Made every single setting to avoid the worst-case scenario.

Stevonnie smirked, resting an arm on the ground. “Really.”

“This setting is literally called _‘Use in case of being trapped in a room with a sealed door.’_

“…Wow.”

“I know.”

Lars rushed on over, offering Stevonnie a hand. After standing up and brushing themself off, they clasped it tightly. “Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it, but we’ve gotta move—I saw some, uh, gems that looked like the ones that took us to Homeworld before. When, you know.”

For a moment, a look of hurt flashed across Stevonnie’s face, their eyes becoming a little more rose-coloured. “…I remember. Topaz.” They clenched their fist. “We need to go.”

 

* * *

 

Thoughts of that room continued to play in Steven’s portion of Stevonnie’s mind, travelling around the shadow-back outskirts of Homeworld’s main city.

How far Pink Diamond’s lonely tower was from the rest of the Diamond’s, and the memory of how coy and demeaning _Starlight_ had sounded playing from White Diamond’s tongue.

Was that how Pink Diamond had lived? A member of the Diamond Authority, but in name-only? Someone who commanded respect, but could never show her true desires to _love?_ She was so small, so desperate to love and see worlds flourish under her reign, yet White Diamond had played her desires like a fiddle.

Like a little pet. Gems never aged, never matured. No wonder Rose was fascinated with the way humans grew and changed, carving their own identity into the world.

That was all she wanted. Her own identity.

_* **’Yet I was in a rush to fill in her shoes. The exact opposite of what she wanted for me.’**_

“Hey,” Lars stopped for a moment. “You okay?”

Stevonnie blinked, jumping with a start. “Uh… yeah.”

“You sure?” He poked their forehead. “Sounds like something’s messing with the co-pilot up in there.”

Stevonnie brushed away Lars’ hand with a laugh. “Maybe something like that. Don’t really feel like this is the best place to speak about it now.”

“Gotcha.” Lars stuffed his hands into his pockets, playing with a loose thread. “Okay, so I dropped ship around here, ended up crashing there…” He had to turn away from the burnt wreckage. “ _My beautiful ship…_ ”

“Lars.”

He straightened up. “I know, I know. Uh… alright, so the ships were headed in that direction,” he pointed North, “so that’s where everyone else should still be. Question is, how—”

_“THERE SHE IS! ONE OF THOSE CRYSTAL GEMS!”_

Stevonnie almost looked like they could pop a vein. “It’s _Stevonnie,_ and I’m _they!”_

_“The orders were to attack on sight and deliver any Crystal Gems to White Diamond! Get her!”_

_“What about the human?”_

_“Who cares! Those defectives are our main priority!”_

Lars stared up at the ship across the cavern, growing increasingly panicked at the sudden green glow from its main guns. Sweat beaded up on his brow. “Stevonnie, what—what do we do now?”

Desperately looking around, they suddenly looked down.

Lars deadpanned. “Please tell me you’re not thinking—”

“Hold on tight!”

Without another moment to process his thoughts, Lars felt his hand being grabbed, jerked toward Stevonnie, and _throwing_ themselves off the cliff.

 

* * *

 

“Lars, Lars! Please, _please_ wake up, I—I can’t, I don’t know if I can heal—”

Lars awoke to his body being violent shaken by Stevonnie (who themself looked on the verge of tears), and slapped their hands away.

“Lay off the bod and gimme a sec.” He mumbled, before holding his side. Lars patted himself down and somehow found only light bruising from the fall. “Guess I was damn lucky I didn’t crack a rib…”

“Oh, thank the stars you’re alright.” Wiping the tears from their eyes, Stevonnie gave him as big of a smile as they could muster. Seeing him smile back was enough, and Stevonnie shuffled aside to give Lars some space.

Well, as much space as someone _could_ get on an oppressive alien planet, anyway.

“Did we lose them?”

They nodded. “As well as I could, given the situation. The bubble shattered upon impact—I think there’s something here that White Diamond must have done, it makes Pink Diamond’s abilities weaker. I can’t scale anything properly.

“That’s messed up.

A shudder crawled up Stevonnie’s spine, even _thinking_ of the lengths White Diamond had gone to before to keep Pink Diamond under _her_ control. “Yeah, I know. At least we seem to have lost them for now.”

“Good, good. That’s” He slowly sat up. “No way we can go back up now, they’ll catch us for sure. But…” Lars narrowed his eyes, before wetting his finger and holding it up. “Most of the battle is taking place that way—more wind from the ships. My bet is that if we go left, it’ll just be lasers and ground troops.”

He looked Stevonnie’s way. “You up for that sort of combat?”

Stevonnie looked at their shield, glistening in the low firelight. “It’ll mainly be on the defence for us. My sword was shattered by Blue Diamond after we—after I tried to take her by surprise.”

**_‘A stupid impulsive move, and I put everyone in danger.’_ **

_*It was brave, and you tried to protect us. Don’t beat yourself up._

Lars put a hand on their shoulder. “We’ll get you a new one. That Bismuth is good at crafting stuff, isn’t she? End of the day, it’s just stuff.”

“Yeah,” they smiled, thoughts intertwining into one. “Just stuff.”

Lars shared their smile a few seconds longer, before taking a chance to peak outside cover. His hair singed when he suddenly backed away. “Yeah, uh, it’s gonna be a close call.” He put out the small flame in his hair and sighed. “I’ve got about twelve shots left in this thing.” He bashed the side of his adapted laser-rifle. “Won’t shatter a gem but it should stun them good.”

Stevonnie nodded along. “That’ll be a good distraction if the situation calls for it. But I reckon if we lay low and stick to the shadows, we should avoid being spotted by the turrets—most won’t detect you anyway, Lars, and we should confuse them with all the human we’ve got in us. We’ll just have to take our chance with the ground soldiers, but most of them should be manageable if we stick to our strengths. Alright, we good?”

Lars surprised Stevonnie by tapping a flat palm on their collarbone. “We’re good.”

With shining eyes and a renewed sense of hope pulsing through their gem and veins, Stevonnie travelled down the brazen path laid out before them.

 

* * *

 

The only sight Stevonnie’s eyes caught a glimpse of was a golden fist slamming into their bubble, arcane runes branching out into the pink bubble and lasting mere moments before deconstructing, sending them hurling back toward the floor.

There was just enough of Stevonnie left clinging to the fusion to stay whole. They could just open their eyes, seeing what was to come next.

“Hah! How’d you like that? Have a taste of planet Earth!” They could hear Lars, hear the last of the blasts spitting like a flare into another Gem… a Ruby guard? He seemed happy with himself.

Lars deserved that. He was too good of a person not to see it for himself.

“Did you see that, Stevonni—” His expression melted into pure horror at the sight in front of him.

“For the Diamonds.” The Topaz raised her fist, eyes fixated on the pink, gleaming gem.

They say, in moments of importance, the world slows down so that the memory will forever be with you. Those who abide by that saying never knew if that world was supposed to be Homeworld, a colonised planet, or Mother Earth, but perhaps it was never supposed to be either.

For maybe it is our world, our perception, our experiences that slow.

It seemed so fast to the outside. Lars moved on instinct, just as he had done before, dashing toward his friends that lay there defenceless. As in turn, did they mumble for him to retreat, to keep himself safe—Steven wanted Lars to sacrifice himself no more, and Connie knew the pain of seeing a parent crying out for the loss of their child—

Lars dived over Stevonnie, and their arms wrapped around him, and then—

A brilliant white light _erupted_ into the skies above.

Pure energy knocked the Topaz Soldiers and Ruby Guards back on their feet, as three beings rose as one.

Long, dark hair fell, ending at a light gradient into pale pink at the fusion’s knees, and a familiar, pink gem that was embedded in their navel, glistening rose-gold. Their dark cape waved triumphantly in the wind, with a golden star as the clip that kept it from escaping into the galaxies above.

Slowly, their onyx-coloured eyes opened.

“I…” They gazed at their hands, adorned in black gloves.

Silence fell over all the Gems that had bore witness. Not even an echo travelled through the caverns on the sides of Homeworld’s cracked wastes. All just stared at the formation of this grand new being, who opened their mouth, and said—

“What the _actual heck?!”_

They pulled on their shirt. “Steven?! Connie?! What happened? Why am I—what happened? Why am I in your fusion?”

“I—”

“OH MY GOD I CAN HEAR YOUR THOUGHTS.”

“You’re the one who just protected us, Lars! I didn’t even know I could fuse with two humans at once, let alone—”

“I’m not listening! Stop using your weird brain powers on me!”

“Stop _sacrificing_ yourself for me all the time and maybe weird stuff wouldn’t happen to you!”

“I’m not just going to let you _die!_ Why couldn’t _you_ just be a normal weird kid instead of all this magic stuff?”

“I’m just as confused as you are! Why have you always got to—”

“Boys! Enough!”

Something seemed to shift in the being. The voice, slightly higher in tone than the others, carried on with, “have you not thought that this could be an advantage to getting _out_ of here?”

_*You’re so smart, Connie!_

_I still find all this kind of weird but—well. Why not. I trust you both._

_‘ **It’ll be weird to figure this out, but we can do it. We’ve got to. And—**_

The being frowned, before touching their ears—and suddenly gasped.

**_‘Oh my gosh, I have pierced ears! And it’s skulls! This is so cool! It’s just like a character in a book I read—it’s called Dragonfly, about a boy called Ori who has like, seven piercings but is also really studious, and he’s super smart and really good at magic but is WAY too addicted to caffeine, and it’s really sentimental to his character because—’_ **

_*Connie your Mom might ground me if I encourage anything more. She can handle the magic stuff, but I don’t think she could handle piercings._

“Enough!”

The fusion looked at the crowd that had gathered around them.

The Topaz raised her weapon. “Explain what this trickery is! Fusing with organic life, that isn’t possible! You will identify yourself and surrender accordingly, and the Diamonds _might_ consider sparing your lives to the Zoo!”

They blinked slowly. “…Uh. You want me to. Explain myself?”

“At least you have some level of comprehension.”

The fusion flushed heavily and gulped. “I don’t even know… who are we—who am _I_ now?”

**_Who am I?_ **

Two humans, one human-gem hybrid.

Really, their very existence should have brought immediate disgust from every gem that laid eyes them. Who had seen them fuse, who’s very creation was the reason that the Diamonds had almost lost the war.

But, some eyes were curious. Perhaps even those who pointed weapons at them.

**_Who am I?_ **

Connie Maheswaran. A bookish girl who wielded the sword and learned from Gemkind’s lowest. Yet despite pre-conceived notions from even her own parents, she stood tall, burning with a fire that could burn any gem to ash if she dared. Her hands were too kind for that.

Lars Barriga. Spent so long looking in a mirror at what he didn’t have, he never realised the love that stared him right in the face until she branched out to do more things. Now here he stood, a hero more selfless than most would ever know. A boy who deserved life.

Steven Quartz Universe. Someone beyond the name of his mother.

**_All these people are a part of me._ **

**_And I…_ **

**_I am more._ **

“The name’s Starsonnie. Fellow human-gem fusion, and Homeworld spectacle. Pleased to meet you all.” With a hardened frown, they summoned their shield, narrowed their eyes, and went into a defensive stance.

“Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to end this as soon as possible. You see,” Starsonnie focused on the one with the drawn blade, “my friends need me to help them right now, and if you haven’t noticed, _you’re all standing in my way._ ”

 

* * *

 

Starsonnie’s heels dug into the dirt as their shield blockaded a stampeding Topaz, before buffeting the Gem and bringing down the shield _hard_ on the back of their head. The Gem collapsed into a sudden array of sparkles, until the gemstone was left silent in the dirt.

Taking a moment to steal a breath, they moved the gemstone in a pile with the others, away from the turbulence of the battles raging on in the distance and carried on moving.

Each step was… a little strange. So far, Connie seemed to be thriving in this mind of combat, but she could feel Lars’ unease of this new form from one arm’s fingers trembling, and Steven’s guilt with one of their hearts pounding in their shared ears.

Connie’s mind could see through the filters of Starsonnie’s eyes, and somehow kept their legs moving forward, despite the occasional knee buckling from the strain.

Combat and having time to think were two very different battlegrounds.

They stopped again, putting a hand over their eye and taking a breath.

“Are you alright?”

Starsonnie blinked, shaking their head. “ ** _I’m fine._** ”

“Don’t try and play smart. We can stop if—”

“ ** _We need this form. You overhead the others—they’re confused because they can’t locate the ‘two organics and small gem’. Just. Let’s keep going._** ”

Without a word from either voice, Starsonnie stayed silent on the road.

 

* * *

 

Starsonnie became a phantasm as they passed an ancient mural, engraved on the side of the Homeworld Kindergarten.

A clumsy etching of a familiar gem, and ancient-technological runes. Somewhere in their mind, Starsonnie wanted to remember what those runes said, from guilt that hung in the deep history of their gem, and the compassion of their human hearts.

It took a moment more of pondering before they moved on.

The engraving was left in silence.

 

* * *

 

It wasn’t long before their stroll had them face-to-face with the sentry of the Diamond’s Court.

A pale, pink gem with a towering stature, she had taken one look at them and wrinkled her nose at them.

“What sort of Gem are _you_ supposed to be?” Morganite regarded them with her one pale-lilac eye, before dismissing them with a wave of her hand. “No matter. You are simply a defect. I am sure my Diamond will dispose of you soon enough.”

“Handled defects before, have you?”

A look of disgust crossed her face. “A… _fusion_. My old defective pearl and ruby guard. An embarrassing display, not that I encouraged such behaviour. I dare not even _speak_ of it now. The mere thought makes me want to shatter myself.”

Morganite had been content to wave her hand and send out her red eye robots, when… she heard _laughter_ coming from Starsonnie.

“What in the name of Homeworld is so amusing to you?”

It took a moment for the chuckles to stop, wiping their eye free of a tear, and smirking up at Morganite. “You clearly have a funny definition of what you find worthy, y’know.”

Starsonnie held up the makeshift gun, their grin stretching out despite their hardened eyes. “Because if you had any idea on what the _hell_ you were talking about, you’d think before you spoke.”

Morganite gave pause. “Insolence.” She said with a sneer, before standing tall and poised. “It seems as if you need a lesson in basic etiquette! Allow me to grant it to you before I see you _shattered_!”

Starsonnie leapt from their position as rays of light showered down on them and scorched the earth—jumping between each new target with nay a moment between footfalls.

Their fingernails dug into the earth as their arms lifted them, then their legs, and everything was blinding, and they shot their pistol, sending Morganite’s robots spiralling to the ground and crashing into the ground and—

Something suddenly shot past their abdomen and they felt their arm move on instinct to protect their gem and it burned down the side of their arm and they _winced._

“Dammit—” They cradled their arm with one hand, using the other to summon their shield and make a dash for cover underneath a crumbling bolder.

Blood splattered on the ground as they knelt to the ground, the smell of cooked flesh making their insides swirl.

“You can dodge attacks, that much is impressive. But those pets of my diamond are able to do that too, you know.”

Starsonnie gritted their teeth. “Humans aren’t your _pets._ We think and feel just as much as you do.”

“We—” Morganite let out a laugh. “You think yourself as _one_ of them?”

With blood dripping from their arm, Starsonnie stood and summoned their shield. Their pistol lay broken on the wayside by their feet.

“I didn’t come here to seek your definition of the meaning to my existence.” They raised their head. “I came here so that I can save my friends.”

Something in their eye glinted _danger._ “ _And it seems to do that, I have to **silence** you._”

Morganite almost looked unnerved, but quickly recovered her poise. “Well, then. I am hardly one for brute force directly, but a sentry has her work.” Her gem gently lit up, and she pulled out a ball hooked onto a chain, encrusted with faux-light gems.

She glowered back. “It seems I will have to put you down _myself_.”

Starsonnie didn’t wait. As soon as Morganite’s hand rose, they catapulted off of their feet and made for the cliffsides. Heat from the remaining eyebots’ lasers licked the back of their heel, but with each crag to the next, they managed to avoid the onslaught.

“What is _with_ you and running away—aim for their hands, you stupid pieces of tech!”

 _“Peridot wasn’t this bad to her bots_ ,” Starsonnie muttered, launching for the next crag, until they were suddenly cornered. “Dammit, let’s try—”

Starsonnie summoned their shield and bubbled themself, before skidding down the slide of the steep slope to avoid the laser showers. Then, darting back, two of the robots quickly made its way over to counter them—

And they timed it right, jumping off their shield and letting it crash right into two bots at once. Starsonnie hung and grinned, watching their work sending the two hovering bots hurling to the ground below.

“Oh, I have had _enough_ of this! You will stop making a mockery of me _now!”_

Morganite’s flare had her ball and chain launch crack at them like a flare, and without warning Starsonnie found themself quickly flung off of their feet and into the air, lungs barely able to make a sound past a gasp of pain, when—

A sharp pain on the back of their head let in the floodgates—

_Cracked skulls—I heard it crack—_

_The off colours standing round, blood marking the spot where he rested in pieces—_

_Humans aren’t meant to **shatter** Lars—_

_You weren’t supposed to be the one hurting, you’re just a kid like me—_

Starsonnie’s eyes widened and tears poured out.

_Did I save him? Did I save them—they were outcasts, and I outcasted myself—Sadie, I’m so sorry—_

_Mom, Dad, I hope I was worth it—_

_Ronaldo you were always so smart—_

_Steven deserved a better saviour than a screw up like me, wh—_

_Why am I not fading, Sadie I’m so **scared** —_

With a loud gasp, the light that had blinded so many was now gentle, one becoming three as Lars, Connie, and Steven fell to the ground. Lars had held both younger kids in his arms, taking most of the brunt of the wall as his legs creaked with the extra weight.

“It can’t be.” Morganite took a step back. “Don’t tell me humans _can_ actually fuse?”

Steven slowly looked up, before snapping his fingers and enveloping Connie and Lars in a weak, pale-pink bubble.

“Steven? What are you doing?” Connie asked, but he just shook his head and pointed up. Connie followed his gaze, and simply nodded in understanding at what she saw.

“Going on the defensive?” Morganite’s shrill cackles bordered on hilarity, if Lars’ tired expression was anything to say about it. “Typical, even with your fancy light show, you _still_ can’t measure up to that which is Homeworld! You deserve to be buried underneath rubble, you’re all just simple pebbles.”

“Hey, Morganite.”

She looked up as Lars smirked. “What.”

“Ever heard of karma?”

“I—”

She never got a word out, as the scars from her last attack caused stray rubble from the pillars to come crashing down onto her.

Morganite lasted seconds after that direct hit, before her light form vanished in a poof of smoke. Like the others, Steven quietly bubbled her and put her where someone would eventually see her and sat with Connie and Lars.

He crossed his legs and rested his hands on his knees.

“So.” Connie broke the ice first. “We can all fuse.”

“Appears so.”

“It’s so weird,” Steven grinned, hiding his face in his hand. “I’ve never fused with more than one person. How do Pearl and the others _do_ it? I—I mean, we’d have been so lost without you, Connie!”

“Me?”

“Yeah?” Lars massaged his temples, before glancing at her. “You were the brainbox there, holding us all together through the angst. Only when it got really weird when we all fell apart.”

A flush blossomed on her dark skin, and she fiddled with the hem of her shirt. “I—I don’t know. Isn’t the point of a fusion that _nobody_ is in control? That it’s all equal?”

“Don’t look at me.” Lars raised his hands in surrender. “You two are the ones who do all that alien magic stuff.”

She just raised a brow at him. “I hate to be the one to share this piece of news with you, Lars, but you’re included in that bracket now.”

“Aw, man.”

All three lay on the ground, looking up at the overcast sky. For the moment, the fighting seemed to have quelled, and nothing fired up there.

“What now?” Lars whispered.

Steven pursed his lips. “…I don’t know.”

Connie let out a sigh, before saying, “it’s going to take a minute for that door to open up. Maybe we can just… breathe.”

So, that’s what the three of them did.

They lay there, underneath the overcast skies of the Gem Homeworld, with fire’s burning from wreckage and pillars crumbling from the scars of their previous battle, each with an identical cut on their left arm.

Connie had closed her eyes, Lars stared aimlessly at the fires, and Steven had his focus fixated on the door.

Light suddenly began to pour out. “Hey, guys.” Connie stirred and looked up, Lars merely turned his head. “It’s opening.”

Connie reached for Steven’s hand; Steven reached for Lars’. Both took each other’s and held onto it as tight as they could.

“When I get home,” Lars took a deep breath, “I’m having the longest nap _ever._ Not even triple pay at the doughnut could get me out.”

“I’m going to go to the library and watch every corny Spanish romance drama.” Connie laughed weakly. “I need something to scrub my brain of good ideas.”

“…I’m going to search every forum for the cookie cat ice cream sandwich recipe. Then I’m going to make every single flavour they never even dared to try.”

Connie’s eyes widened. “You don’t mean…”

“I’m going to make it _fry bits flavoured._ ”

Lars dead-panned. “That’s so gross.”

Steven just grinned, hunching his shoulders. “Yeah, I guess so. But I don’t have anything holding me back after that!”

By the time they all turned back to look at the door, it was almost fully opened. There, stretching out before them, the bridge suddenly lit up pink, and Connie tested that it was solid with her right foot.

“Seems stable,” she said. “You guys ready?”

“Those chicks will be lost without us.” Connie sharply cleared her throat, and Lars laughed sheepishly. “Those _warriors_ will be lost without us.”

“Better. Honestly, Lars, _manners._ ”

“Sorry.”

“Better be.” Connie nudged Steven’s shoulder. “What about you, jam bud? You ready?”

Steven took a minute to breathe.

_Mom, you weren’t perfect. And maybe you were better at this whole leader stuff than I was. But, I get it now. being here with these two… I get how hard it is to keep those around you happy._

_I know what you went through._

“Yeah,” Steven took a step forward. “As long as you guys are here, I’m ready for anything.”

And with one push, the three—though unfused—soldiered on over the bridge, and didn’t stop moving forward.

**Author's Note:**

> fry-bits ice-cream. now doesn't that sound appetising.


End file.
